New building brings turmoil to Bethel

Hassidic community claims victory

By FRITZ MAYER

WHITE LAKE, NY — “I was misinformed about whether the building should have gone through the planning board, and someone will have to answer for that.” That’s what Bethel supervisor Dan Sturm said after a court proceeding regarding the United Talmudical Academy (UTA) on July 24. Sturm also said, “I am not happy about the ruling; the safety of the community is at stake.”

He was referring to a decision by judge Frank LaBuda to grant a temporary certificate of occupancy for the UTA’s new shul and community center. LaBuda added, however, that the building could only be used for religious purposes for the time being with no meals to be served there or any other activities to take place. LaBuda said the town did have legitimate safety concerns regarding the building, such as doors that opened inward rather than outward, a “door to nowhere” and the parking lot, which had not been finished correctly. But after touring the facility, LeBuda did not think the safety concerns were sufficient to keep the congregants out of their house of worship.

Isaac Burger, a member of the Satmar Bungalow Colony, which uses the building, said his community was very happy with the ruling. He said, “The judge said you can’t interfere with people’s religion.”

The building, which is located on Schultz Road, has been a source of controversy for several months and a topic of conversation at town meetings. Initially, Sturm said that because a house of worship was a permitted use under the zoning code that was in place at the time, the project did not need to go before the planning board. But Kimberlea Rea, the lawyer hired by the town to pursue a legal battle against the UTA, said in court that the town building inspector, Timothy Dexter, had acted in error when he issued the permit. She said the project required a special use permit and planning board review.

It was a matter that residents of the street have brought up repeatedly. The building is on a narrow road and residents have also complained that the additional traffic on the road has created unsafe conditions.

According to town officials, the building had been occupied since July 15; on July 16, the town issued a stop-work order. Subsequently, the town engineer was denied entry to the property.

At a meeting called to deal with the issue in July 28, Sturm said town engineers would conduct further inspections of the building, and he added, “we are also doing a complete audit of certain files in the building department.”

Members of the Hassidic community say the building has been repeatedly inspected by the town as construction occurred over the course of the past year. They contend that the uproar has little to do with safety and more to do with racism and town politics. A man at the building, who did not want to be identified, said that Dexter had promised to issue a temporary certificate of occupancy, but was forced to change course after members of the community complained to the board about the building.

A line from an open letter to the town from the Satmar Bungalow Colony reads, “Are we wrong in believing that if we were not Hassidic Jews this would not be happening?”

Residents of the town bristled at the suggestion of racism. Timothy Crumley, who lives across the street from the building, said, “I’m married to a Jewish lady and when I read [about charges of racism] in the paper, I was steamed the whole day, because they basically called everyone who lives on the street a racist.”